Español — Passive se

Spanish often expresses the passive not with «ser» but with «se» + a verb in the 3rd person that agrees with the thing affected: se venden pisos, se necesita camarero. Learn to tell this passive se apart from the impersonal se.

How it works

✓ Rule

In the passive se, the patient (the thing acted on) becomes the grammatical subject and the verb agrees with it: singular in se necesita camarero, plural in se venden pisos, se buscan voluntarios. There is no expressed agent (no «by...»).

Examples

Passive se vs. impersonal se
Example	Agreement	Type
Se vende piso	verb singular (patient singular)	passive se
Se venden pisos	verb plural (patient plural)	passive se
Se necesita camarero	verb singular	passive se
Se necesitan camareros	verb plural	passive se
Se buscan voluntarios	verb plural	passive se
Se vive bien aquí	verb always singular (no patient)	impersonal se
Se trabaja los domingos	verb always singular (no patient)	impersonal se

Good to know

⚠ Note

The common mistake is not making the verb agree in the plural: write se venden pisos, not «se vende pisos». But when the patient is a specific person marked by «a», the construction becomes impersonal and the verb stays singular: se busca a los culpables (not «se buscan a...»).